Author Archives: Steven Petrus

About Steven Petrus

Dr. Steven Petrus is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in psycho-educational assessment, child, adolescent and family therapy.

Liar, Liar Pants On Fire

Lying involves a speaker making a false statement with the intention to deceive the recipient (Bok, 1978; Chrisholm & Feehan, 1977; Coleman & Kay, 1981; Lee, 2000). Lies differ in type, incidence, magnitude and consequence. There are various gradations of [...]

Posted in Children, Parent Tips, Parenting, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Violent video games and the brain

As video games continue becoming more violent and increasingly realistic and as technology improves the controversy over whether or not violent video games are potentially harmful to players increases.  These debates have even made it as far as the Supreme [...]

Posted in Brain, Children, Teens | Leave a comment

ADD??? Or maybe…

Jeremy was a bright child in first grade.  His parents were frustrated because of his troubles in school.  As the day progressed Jeremy became fidgety, his ability to focus and attend to information decreased, and he became very irritable. In [...]

Posted in Brain, Children, Parenting | Leave a comment

Teen Suicide

The reasons behind a teen’s suicide or attempted suicide can be complex. Although suicide is relatively rare among children, the rate of suicides and suicide attempts increases tremendously during adolescence. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that [...]

Posted in Parenting, Teens | Leave a comment

Parent Tip

Parents who: offer their child an accepting, caring, comforting, and protecting environment, offer consistency, structure, and regularity of daily routine do things regularly as a family like going out to dinner, playing games, etc set reasonable and firm limits encourage [...]

Posted in Children, Parent Tips, Parenting | Leave a comment

Catch Them Doing It Right

How many times a day do you, as a parent, have to correct your child’s misbehavior with statements such as “stop that,” “clean up your room,” or “how many times am I going to have to ask you to put [...]

Posted in Children, Parent Tips, Parenting | Leave a comment

Strategies of the request….

Foot-In-The-Door (FITD) and Door In-The-Face (DITF) are sequential request strategies used to increase behavioral compliance. The Foot-In-The-Door (FITD) theory is based on the Consistency Principle, which states once a person agrees to something they will usually stick with it.   When [...]

Posted in Parent Tips, Parenting, Teens | Leave a comment

Facts about drugs and drug use.

Facts about drugs Narcotics: Narcotics (such as heroin, morphine, Oxycontin, etc.) are used to dull the senses and reduce pain. Narcotics can be made from opium (from the opium poppy) or created in a laboratory (synthetic and semi-synthetic narcotics). Stimulants: [...]

Posted in Children, Parenting, Substance Use, Teens | Leave a comment

Marijuana

Marijuana is the most commonly abused illicit drug in the United States. It is a dry, shredded green and brown mix of flowers, stems, seeds, and leaves derived from the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. The main active chemical in marijuana [...]

Posted in Brain, Children, Parenting, Substance Use, Teens | Leave a comment

Recess and your child’s brain

Recess is an important time of day when children can run around the playground with their friends, unconcerned with anything other than moving around and having fun. Current research shows that physical activity during recess and other parts of the day [...]

Posted in Brain, Children, Parent Tips | 1 Comment